How This Startup Is Eliminating Health Risks With Its Barcode Scanning App

Driven by a wave of health-conscious millennials and families looking at healthier food choices, India has witnessed a sea shift in consumer preferences in the last few years, especially after the pandemic. 

A 2022 thought paper by Avendus Capital forecasts India’s health food market to reach $30 Bn in the next five years, growing at a 20% CAGR —1.5X the growth rate of India’s overall packaged food and beverage market. Notably, thousands of brands have mushroomed in the health and wellness segment in the past few years to cash in on this opportunity.

Despite this, India is home to one in ten of the world’s obese children, as packaged and ultra-processed foods continue to be consumed widely with little consideration for their nutritional value or level of processing. Not to mention, this has contributed to the rise of lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, among Indians.

For the founder of TruthIn Ravi Teja Putrevu, who went through a tumor-removal surgery in 2022 after being diagnosed with acromegaly, a rare pituitary condition, this resonated deeply. 

“Before my diagnosis, I had been consuming a lot of packaged foods, trusting the marketing claims on the labels. However, after being diagnosed and learning I was at a high risk of diabetes and heart disease, I made a sudden shift in my lifestyle. As I began reading labels more closely, I realised that the reality often didn’t match what was printed on the packaging,” the founder said.

The realisation also made him see an opportunity in this area. He thought of an app that could help people determine the nutritional value of food items. To pursue this, he joined forces with his cousin Raghav and Dr Aman Basheer Sheikh (a close friend) to incorporate NatFirst in 2022.

NatFirst’s key product is an app, TruthIn, which, developed in July 2023, provides detailed insights into packaged food, personal care, and cosmetic products. 

The app leverages AI, along with its proprietary TruthIn Rating System, to decode nutrition by analysing ingredients, enabling consumers to make healthier and informed eating choices.

With a simple scan, users can access comprehensive product data, including health scores and personalised insights, helping them navigate complex labels and avoid ultra-processed foods. Backed by doctors, nutritionists, and tech engineers, TruthIn operates at the intersection of AI, AR, and data analytics to deliver value to its growing user base. The app has garnered 5 Lakh downloads since its inception. It currently hosts 85K+ monthly users.

TruthIn’s Early Days 

Before starting his venture, Putrevu was a mathematics and physics teacher. He also has experience working with a couple of startups. 

While NatFirst is the byproduct of Putrevu’s awakening, the startup only came into being because of the support from other cofounders.  

Notably, given his strong medical background, Sheikh immediately resonated with Putrevu’s cause. On the other hand, what excited Raghav about this project was the tech part. To help consumers make better nutritional choices, the trio incorporated Natfirst and started working on their core product TruthIn.

“However, developing TruthIn’s tech proved more complex than we initially thought,” said the founder.

Before officially launching the app, the founders came across many key learnings during the research. Initially, the founder’s focus was on gathering data from the internet and putting it on the app. However, soon they realised that online data is often unreliable. 

To address this, they collected data from multiple sources like Swiggy, Amazon, BigBasket, and Blinkit. “When we compared the information available online to what was printed on the packaging, we found significant discrepancies. As a result, we took the difficult route and started sending photographers to supermarkets to capture images and process them,” the founders said. 

Now, the next step was to provide consumers with personalised daily allowance (PDA) values based on factors like age, gender, and health conditions. However, calculating this for each combination was a complex process and required significant involvement from doctors. 

This was when they decided to keep things simple, creating a rating system that could help consumers decide whether a product was suitable for them or not. 

To make their rating system stand out, the founders studied what other countries were doing. Therefore, they looked at the Health Star Rating System in Australia and Nutri-Score in France but found that these did not account for the quality of ingredients. Hence, the founders decided to pick the best parts of these systems and add a focus on ingredient quality. 

With this, they officially launched the B2C app TruthIn in July 2023. Initially, the founders kept the app free to gather user feedback. 

“Initially, we wanted to consider an affordable annual subscription model. However, we realised that was not the right way forward, so started with a free model only,” the founders said.

Refining The TruthIn Tech Stack 

The app’s first version featured a simple barcode scan that allowed users to access comprehensive product data, including health scores. This scan also helped users decipher complex labels to make informed choices. However, much had yet to be done.

The founders are still in the process of refining the model. They are sharply focussed on perfecting the value proposition to ensure that users find clear benefits each time they open the app.

So far, their biggest challenge has been managing data. Moreover, they have already attempted multiple iterations to refine their data stack and user interface to get a perfect app.

“Initially, we built the app using React and launched an MVP version, but it wasn’t scalable on iOS and Android. So, we decided to transition to Flutter to ensure compatibility across both platforms,” Raghav said, elaborating on the iterations. 

He added that when they started, tools like OpenAI and generative AI weren’t as advanced as they are today. The founders said they had to rely on basic machine learning algorithms to gather product data, check quality, and process ingredients and nutrients. 

“However, scaling this process to handle 1 Lakh+ products required more than just Excel sheets,” he added.

To manage this, the founders developed a backend system, the Data Discovery Platform (DDP), which also fully automates the process.

“The entire process begins when an image, sourced from a user or other sources, enters the platform, where it is processed and data is extracted. A manual quality check follows, with any necessary corrections made. Next, a data science engine analyses the data to derive insights. Then nutritionists review the results, verifying attributes like gluten-free status, artificial ingredients, and natural sources. Once fully quality-checked, the product data is uploaded to TruthIn,” the founders said, adding that DDP took several iterations to fully automate and streamline as a backend platform. 

Initially, manual checks, basic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools, and a limited data science engine resulted in lower accuracy and slow processing times, making it challenging to push products quickly to the app. Now, with advanced tools in place, each product can be processed in around 15-20 minutes.

Currently, TruthIn allows users to scan barcodes on packaged foods, personal care, and cosmetic products to instantly understand ingredient details, nutritional profiles, and how these apply to their personal health needs. Each product is rated based on factors like saturated fats or sugar content, giving users an immediate assessment to help them make informed choices. 

The startup is also looking to add personalisation to the app such as serving size recommendations. This will make it easier for users to make health-conscious decisions based on their unique needs.

TruthIn’s Way Forward

While the startup’s focus so far has been on developing and refining the TruthIn app for consumers, it now plans to focus on the B2B segment.

“TruthIn operates on a tech stack that also supports B2B applications, particularly in compliance. For instance, FSSAI regulations require ecommerce listings for packaged food or personal care products to display ingredients, nutritional information, allergen data, and similar details. This is where NatFirst with its TruthIn Rating System can offer B2B solutions to companies to improve their compliance,” the founders said.

By using its ingredient and nutrition analysis, the company aims to categorise products with over 50 attributes such as gluten-free, dairy-free, or lactose-containing — providing lifestyle and health-based tags. Notably, these attributes help ecommerce platforms offer accurate search filters. 

The startup is already in talks with Amazon and aims to integrate with Blinkit, Swiggy, and other quick commerce platforms going forward.

The founders have also applied for patents on the TruthIn Rating System.

“Our goal is to open source the algorithm and work collaboratively with all relevant stakeholders, including the National Institute of Nutrition and FSSAI, to make the rating system as transparent and credible as possible,” the founders said.

The company is also actively reaching out to FSSAI to collaborate in either refining the TruthIn Rating System or supporting the development of an FSSAI-endorsed Indian rating system designed by nutrition experts.

According to the founders, the TruthIn Rating System remains central to NatFirst’s mission, and the B2B segment functions as a revenue stream built on the foundational TruthIn tech stack, allowing the startup to serve B2B API needs with minimal additional development.

All in all, with nearly 5 Lakh+ downloads, the startup has seen steady growth so far. However, the journey ahead remains challenging. According to the founder, they have yet to reach a major breakthrough and are still at a pre-revenue stage. 

Moving forward, the startup aims to strengthen its marketing efforts, sharpen its value proposition, and fine-tune its pricing, monetisation, and user experience.

As of now, the startup is focussed on empowering Indian consumers to make healthier choices. Now, as it ventures into the B2B segment and seeks collaborations with industry regulators, it seems well-poised to make a meaningful impact with TruthIn on India’s health food and wellness landscape. However, achieving scalability and financial sustainability will be critical for its long-term success.

[Edited By Shishir Parasher]